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To which can be added convicted felon sent up the river for his crimes. But only by the wits of a sleuth who winkled out the surveillance video that nailed Nevill as he laid a brutal beating on an innocent man three years ago.

Further descriptors for the Barrie constable (though not for much longer): Liar, bully and disgrace.

Last week, Nevill was sentenced to a year in jail following his earlier conviction on charges of assault causing bodily harm, obstructing justice and fabricating evidence. As of Monday, the perp was in jail awaiting a decision on his application for bail pending an appeal. His lawyer argues Nevill should be released immediately because the appeal process could take more than a year, longer than the sentence, assuming he serves at most two-thirds before parole eligibility kicks in. And jail, added David Butt, is not a friendly environment for a police officer. You know, surrounded by all those bad guys.

On Nov. 20, 2010, Nevill responded to a call from security at Bayfield Mall. The mall cops were holding Jason Stern -- then 25 years old -- over a broken Christmas ornament. It wasn’t Stern who’d trashed the trinket; it was a buddy who’d jumped up and taken a swipe at the overhead bauble as both men were walking through the mall with their girlfriends after a bowling date. But the mall guards nabbed Stern when he’d returned to (italics here) the scene of the crime (close italics) to pick up a wallet he’d forgotten.

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A seven-minute surveillance video shows Stern patiently waiting with the two guards, no hint of trouble brewing over the minor mischief infraction. As Stern later testified in court: “I thought, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? I would just offer to pay for the ornament’.”

The worst strutted in, in the form of Nevill, 230-pounds of weight-lifting enraged muscle. Less than 30 seconds after the officer arrives, Stern is flung to the ground, cuffed with hands behind his back, and absorbing a vicious pounding while the guards (who were never charged in the incident) hold him down. Stern is left in a pool of his own blood, remaining there even as the blood is washed from the pavement with a bucket of water, rather than being transported immediately to hospital for his injuries.

Yet it was Stern who was originally arrested for being drunk in public and resisting arrest. Had that video not been retrieved -- months later, by a lawyer hired by Stern’s father, because the Crown didn’t even know of its existence -- it’s more than likely that the accused, despite no previous record, would have been convicted and sent to the slammer. His contention that (italics here) he (close italics) was the victim, not the aggressor, might have fallen on deaf ears because cops typically are believed. And Neville, 14 years on the Barrie police force, had written in his notebook that Stern had kneed him in the groin. That, as is obvious in the video, simply never happened.

“Nothing in his notes can be believed,” said Chester.

The judge also noted that, although Stern had consumed by his own admission about a half-dozen beers on that day, there was no indication the man was “extensively” intoxicated, as is required by the law to make an arrest on that charge.

The videotape put the lie to all of Nevill’s false assertions. It also led to the charges against Stern being dropped.

When he took the stand in his own defense, Neville claimed he was wary because Stern was drunk, belligerent and kept his hands in his pockets, though it was a cold November night and the mall guards also had their hands in their pockets. Stern says he was polite to Nevill but the officer became infuriated when Stern refused to provide the name of his friend, the ornament-abuser.

In court, where the video was played repeatedly, Nevill insisted that he was provoked and had merely defended himself.

“I was afraid for my own personal safety,” Neville testified.

Crown: “You started this physical confrontation. The video shows you struck him while he was face down, even after the cuffs were on.”

Nevill: “He was spitting at me.”

Crown: “You kneed him in the groin.”

Nevill: He was resisting arrest. I was fighting for my life here, and losing.”

What crock.

Nevill also maintained, with a straight face: “The pocket is the unknown. There could be a weapon in there.”

Knife? Keys? A soiled Kleenex?

For three years, Nevill has been on paid suspension as the case dragged through court. Butt will not say whether the police association has been paying Nevill’s legal bills. Nevill has now been suspended without pay by Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood. She was not chief at the time of the beating. Her predecessor, bombarded with criticism on social media when the surveillance footage surfaced, had released his own video statement in which he assured the public that the Barrie Police Service “is committed to our community and remains an open and transparent organization.”

This is the same police force that employed a cop -- a constable who made $160,000 over four months last year before quitting in April, 2012, second only in salary to the chief -- who’d been on paid suspension over separate accusations including assault causing bodily harm and careless use of a firearm. Nathan Bowman was acquitted on the assault charge (along with two other officers) and, in the second case -- accused of allowing a drunken woman to play with his loaded handgun -- the charge was dropped in exchange for a peace bond. That matter was before a Police Act tribunal when Bowman suddenly announced his resignation.

What the heck is going on up there in Barrie?

Nevill, before this incident, had a string of public complaints against him. The Barrie police department has been trying to distance itself from Nevill, who next faces a hearing on Police Act charges. He’ll probably be fired, but one never knows for certain when it comes to cops. A year ago, Stern -- who suffered a concussion, lacerations and severe bruising -- filed a law suit against the police, the City of Barrie and Bayfield Mall, seeking $1 million in damages for his injuries, stress, sleeplessness and morbid thoughts including contemplation of suicide at one point, when even family and friends were incredulous over his account of what truly happened that night.

That’s the thing about bad cops. They survive and thrive in a culture of disbelief, where only videotape can put the boot to their lies.

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